Below the Ocean but Nowhere Near It

28-Sep-08: Playing Dodgem
China: Kuqa (Kucha) to Yengisar
154km, 6h 15min ride time

As a cyclist it is not often that I have shared the road with anyone other than your regular run of the mill traffic, however, in this region of China we are sharing the road with the likes of semi trailers with loads of cotton and other types of produce piled 4 times higher than the sides of the trucks allow and strapped in with sheets and ropes, double-decker trucks carrying sheep or goats, oil tankers, donkey carts carrying produce or people, scooters and other bicycles. To see a regular variety car is actually pretty rare in this area.

The ride today was pretty bland with little by way of scenery but was flat and for some of the day we had a tail wind and so were able to cover the distance with little to slow us down...except for my second flat tire of the trip. My rear wheel must have been feeling a little left out and so evened out the tally by also getting a flat to now draw even with the front wheel.

We are camped within the walls of a compound style complex which appears to be set up for some sort of cattle purpose. My tent is pitched in a large concrete holding tank with a ramped entrance, assumedly designed to hold cattle at some stage...but hopefully not tonight!

29-Sep-08: How Long is a Piece of String
China: Yengisar to Korla
133km, 6h 06min ride time

We set out today with the expectation of riding a relatively short day compared to the recent trend. The scenery was once again bland and so we set ourselves the mission of counting cars, trucks, donkey carts and ‘other’ vehicles, the latter including motorbikes, scooters, bicycles and farm machinery. The mission was abandoned early on when we realised that the ratio was staying constant regardless of number and so settled on the conclusion that the ratio of donkey carts to ‘other’ vehicles to cars to trucks was 1:6:15:45, with a total of 90 trucks passing us by in the first 15km/40minutes.

As often happens when we get a shorter day there is always something to hinder it from being a fast day. Firstly, we had a headwind for the first 100km and secondly, the directions for the day had been wrong and it turned out to be 133km instead of the expected 120km. A tailwind for the last 35km offered some consolation as we cruised into town. We are staying in a hotel tonight and have made the most of the hot showers and the television which was showing ‘The Fugitive’ in English when we arrived. Dinner was served up to us at a nearby restaurant and after a slow start we were served with more food than we could consume and all rolled out of the place stuffed to the brim and content to make it an early night.

30-Sep-08: Tempers Tested
China: Korla to Uxxaktal
121km, 5h 56min ride time

With respect to riding today was mostly just another day except for our route taking us off the nice smooth highway and onto a rough back road which warmed us up quickly with a 10km climb to start the day. As I reached the peak of the climb I was greeted by a large group of cyclists which numbered more than those that I knew were ahead of me and turned out to include half a dozen local road cyclists who were more than excited to come upon us on their ride. After a few obligatory photos we bid them ‘bye bye’ and enjoyed the downhill that we had worked hard to get. The day led us to camp which is on a dirt road servicing a vineyard.

The greater stories from today come from 2 sources...firstly, the misdirection of Max and Trine who missed a turn and rode themselves 100km off route and eventually turned up to camp having covered 220km...Secondly, one of the more senior riders took advantage of an opportunity given to him to address the group about a few issues he felt were not being adequately dealt with and wound up launching a personal attack on another rider and one of the staff members. His underlying points were wholly valid but the way he went about it was completely inappropriate and achieved nothing more than an uncomfortable 15 minutes for all involved. The underlying point of TDA generally being lax in their response to anyone’s concern about anything was highlighted by the fact that Max and Trine were refused their request to have the support vehicle pick them up as the error in missing the flagged turn was of their own doing...never mind the fact that the directions for the day were out by 5km!

01-Oct-08: Rocks at the Ready
China: Uxxaktal to Quarry Camp
121km, 6h 18min ride time

As I sit in my tent I become increasingly worried that I am the only thing holding it down and that one of the many rocks I have weighting things down is going to work its way free and somehow come flying through my nylon walls and into my head! A gale force wind has picked up and is battering us about in our camp which conveniently is in an area resembling a quarry and so at least the supply of large rocks is not limited. If we were to be riding it would be one hell of a headwind and so hopefully it wears itself out before morning when we set out again.

Today’s ride was quite tiring as we spent most of the day gradually climbing with a headwind in our face. The one small advantage was that we were back onto the highway which offered a smooth surface and a wide shoulder to ride within. Our daily instructions indicated that after lunch would be hilly and at first I was hopeful that it may have been a white lie as the first 20km out of lunch was a steep descent tempered in its level of enjoyment by a headwind which prevented us from really getting the most out of the downhill. My hopes were dashed as we started a gentle but very long ascent to reach our camp which is located only half way up the climb and therefore leaves us with no doubt about what the morning has in store for us!

02-Oct-08: Against the Odds
China: Quarry Camp to Turpan
135km, 5h 25min ride time

Statistically it only rains once every 100 years in the Taklamakan desert but somehow riding on the edge of it we have managed to get 2 rainy days in under 2 weeks. Today started out quite cool after some rain overnight and continued blustery winds both of which gave us grief during the day also. The sky started out clear and blue and as we climbed for the first 20km we were blown about by a strong wind which then went on to hinder our 50km descent, so much so that at times we were struggling to reach 30kph when we should have easily been reaching 55kph!

My good record for few flat tires is now starting to look a little less impressive with one striking me half way up the climb and another half way down the descent! As I changed the tire on the descent dark clouds rolled in and gave us a good soaking as we continued our way down towards the depression 80m below sea level in which the city of Turpan is situated. As we ate lunch the sky cleared up and the sun came out in force which made for a hot and sticky afternoon of riding. After spending so much of the morning changing tires we were determined to make good time and so rode hard into town to start on our period of rest sooner rather than later.